NYC Mayor Visits Miami's 'Ground Zero' for Climate Change

MIAMI BEACH, FL — Saying that America’s largest city shares a common bond with Miami Beach over global warming, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio visited a massive new pump station on Friday and walked along streets that have been raised to combat the threat of rising sea levels. Accompanied by Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, the two chief executives also voiced their frustration over President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate accords. Miami Beach is widely regarded as ground zero for the threat of rising sea levels in the United States and New York recently tasted the wrath of Hurricane Sandy.

“I’m very impressed by the raising of the streets in a way that really can protect against flooding for the long haul,” observed de Blasio, whose visit was tied to the four-day United States Conference of Mayors that opened on Friday in Miami Beach. (Sign up for our free Daily Newsletters and Breaking News Alerts for the Miami Beach Patch.)

“That’s something we’re starting to do in New York City but it’s very impressive what’s happening here in Miami Beach,” he said. “It shows us it can be done right in the middle of a heavily populated area and it can work.”

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As this urban resort town welcomed the 85th Conference of Mayors, Levine invited New York’s top elected official to visit the Sunset Harbour neighborhood, where Miami Beach has invested significant resources to combat rising sea levels. The tour followed a panel discussion led by Levine back at the Fontainebleau. Levine arranged an electric bus to take de Blasio, his staff and members of the press on the short ride to Sunset Harbour.

Levine, who joked that his city of 93,000 is often referred to as the “Sixth Borough of New York,” said that despite its small size, Miami Beach has about $40 billion worth of real estate to protect along with the lives of residents and the never-ending influx of tourists. The city has earmarked $400 million for various projects, but there is still much more to be done.

“We’ve come together as a community, raised our roads, put in pumps, changed our building codes, made the seawalls a little bit higher,” Levine explained. “The ocean is not Republican. It’s not Democrat. It just knows how to rise and that’s what we’ve been seeing. We’ve been seeing it because of climate change. Having the US conference of Mayors in Miami Beach and being able to talk about this crucial issue is so important not just for our community, but for communities all over the world.”

Miami Beach received an honorable mention at the conference's Climate Protection Awards ceremony on Friday for its work in this area. Specifically, the city was honored in the small cities category for incorporating a Sustainability and Resiliency Ordinance into its land development regulations. City officials said the regulations are considered to be the highest standards for sustainable development in Florida.

While Miami Beach may be facing an existential crisis through the threat of a rising ocean, New York faces an issue of scale in protecting the city’s numerous coastal areas. “I have eight-and-a-half million people depending on me to stay one step ahead of global warming,” de Blasio asserted. “We know we’re going to do everything we can. It’s not even a matter of philosophy. It’s something we owe our people.”

New York has a $20 billion plan in place to protect the city, according to de Blasio, who said that Hurricane Sandy took the lives of dozens of New Yorkers, dislocated thousands more and destroyed billions in property. The city has set an ambitious target of an 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050. The mayor expressed anger over the president’s decision to pull out of the global climate change agreement and pledged to carry on at the local level, something he applauded Miami Beach for doing.

“Rather than just be angry, we decided to take action in New York City. We said ‘okay. We’re going to go farther,’ according to the mayor. “I’ve asked every one of my city agencies and you name it — the biggest school system in the country, biggest police force in the country, biggest water system in the country — I’ve asked them all to come back with a plan by Sept. 30 to increase our standards even higher, to reduce emissions even more. We will now be reaching the highest international goal which is to see our Earth not experience more than a 1.5 Celsius increase in temperature. That’s going to take a lot more change in New York City, but if we don’t do it, who’s going to do it?”

De Blasio’s trip to Miami Beach has not been without criticism. The New York Post ran an article that began: “Life’s a beach for Mayor de Blasio.” The article went on to say that the mayor fled the concrete jungle to soak in the Miami sunshine. The newspaper, however, failed to notice that both cities had the exact same forecast on Friday, with the exception that New York was five degrees warmer.

De Blasio appeared slightly off guard when a reporter asked him a question in Spanish, something that is common in Miami. He promised to answer the question, but in English while Levine jumped in to act as a translator.

For more information on the conference visit www.miamibeachuscm.com.

Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine (left) accompanies New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on a walking tour. Photos by Paul Scicchitano